In another significant step notifying global businesses of the new realities – companies are about to face aggressive coordinated prosecutions for sanctions and export control violations.  The last piece in launching this new effort was the announcement of a joint voluntary disclosure program to ensure alignment among the agencies for civil and criminal enforcement of such violations. The Joint Compliance Note (“JCN”) urges companies to...

In late July 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted new rules requiring public companies to disclose cybersecurity incidents and cybersecurity governance policies and practice.  The SEC largely adopted its original proposal issued in March 2022, with some modifications applicable to cybersecurity disclosure requirements.  The SEC voted to adopt the new rules in a 3-2 vote. The new disclosure requirements however are effective no...

Corporate boards face a panoply of risks – and the nature of these risks are quickly evolving.  Cybersecurity has quickly risen to the top of the list of corporate risks.  Add to that the new SEC regulations on cybersecurity disclosures, and board members face serious and escalating risks surrounding ransomware attacks, data breaches and other technical issues. The challenge – board members are not cyber...

Matt Stankiewicz, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, rejoins the podcast to review the recent Ripple decision by District Judge Torres at the Southern District of New York and the recent indictment of Celsius Networks’ CEO. On July 13, 2022, Judge Analisa Torres issued her long awaited ruling on the summary judgment motions in the SEC’s case against Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”).  The 34-page order provided a...

The Department of Justice has laid down a marker – companies would be smart to understand the significant change in ethics and compliance program expectation.  Companies that ignore this new landscape are gambling with their financial security and their reputational value.  Every company that has suffered through a DOJ investigation knows how damaging and draining such an experience can be.  The purpose of an ethics...

The Justice Department’s recent revisions to its Corporate Enforcement Program and its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs stressed the importance of compensations systems and consequence management.  The theoretical underpinning of DOJ’s expanded focus is to increase the consequences to individuals who engage in misconduct or supervisors who turn a blind eye to misconduct.  Individuals already face potential criminal prosecution for engaging in misconduct but the...

Bank of America joined the club of consumer abusers – Wells Fargo had been the well-established leader of this club and the poster-child for abusive consumer practices.  For years, Bank of America avoided federal enforcement for abuses and could distinguish itself from the poster-child, Wells Fargo.  Bank of America’s conduct is inexplicable. In response to the Wells Fargo scandal, you would have expected that Bank...

If you ask corporate board members and senior executives to list their number one risk (other than financial operations), the answer in today’s risk environment is clear – cybersecurity and data privacy.  The rapid elevation of this risk is reflected in weekly headlines announcing ransomware, cyber-attacks and data breaches. Companies that have experienced a cyber-attack are forever changed.  The board and senior executive team quickly...

NAVEX’s annual report on the state of risk and compliance is a must read.  Each year NAVEX supplies helpful insights that compliance professionals, corporate managers and board members can use to benchmark their respective risk management and compliance strategies. This year’s survey reflects submissions from over 1300 respondents around the globe. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews NAVEX’s 2023 State of Risk and Compliance Report.

Looking back in time, the compliance field owes a lot to the healthcare industry.  In the 1990s, there was a dramatic explosion in the industry in response to aggressive federal enforcement programs and increasing regulation.  All of a sudden, compliance officers who sat in the backrooms of legal departments were “volunteered” to address proactive compliance.  Federal regulators pushed the compliance function to assume a much...